Sarah Samway's Artist Statement & Goodbye letter:

For the past year, I have inflicted pain onto others. As your resident 'gallery girl', I set forth deadlines with evil precision, I demanded the dreaded artist statement and bashed people over the head the '60-inch-rule' until bits of brain spilled out onto the gallery's floor. But once all our T's were crossed and our I's dotted, the fun began...our Sunday openings. For those of you who exhibited work in the space, may I remind you of diligent gallery visitor, The Penguin? Come rain or shine, our suited friend stopped by to support youth art...and his zealous appetite. We did have fun, didn't we? Like all good things, however, we are coming to a closing. My job here is done and come near the end of August, I'll be on a train to Chicago for school. The gallery will go on with someone else behind the reins and I bid them good luck and farewell. My last hurrah at AS220 is an opening showcasing my own work, (which is intimidating following all of you - the gallery saw a lot of fantastic action this year). I'd designate myself under the 'mixed media' category (which seems like a cop-out but my interests vary and often collapse on top of each other, so it's my best attempt at explaining what it is I do). I like pretty things and am detail-oriented. I get bored easily so I often switch materials mid-stroke. I like fighting with myself about things deemed important only to me (i.e. stupid stuff). I'm a mixed kid in blood, body, soul and mind and I heart The Youth Gallery.